1942 french navy scuttles their fleet at toulon
DESCRIPTION
The French fleet was scuttled on 27 November 1942 to avoid capture by Nazi German forces.The Allied invasion of North Africa had provoked the Germans into invading the ‘Free Zone’ (Vichy France) Admiral Auphan, guessed correctly that the Germans were aiming to seize the large Toulon fleet (Operation Lila), and issued orders for scuttling these vessels.The Germans launched a heavy assault, but the naval crews used deception tactics to delay the enemy until scuttling could be carried out. Operation Lila was judged a failure, with the French destroying 77 vessels, with the capture of 39 small ships, while several submarines escaped to French North Africa. Only 4 submarines, 3 destroyers, 39 small ships were successfully seized by Germany. Casualties amongst the French were 12 killed and 26 wounded.TRANSCRIPT
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